The main objective of the General Clinical Center at Ohio State is to make available to medical scientists the resources necessary for the conduct of clinical investigations by providing an infrastructure for clinical investigators. To accomplish this purpose the GCRC supports a cadre of skilled professionals to assist the investigator and facilitate his/her research. These personnel include nursing and dietary staff, a computerized data management and analysis system and biostatistical assistance. The research unit provides the environment for the study of normal and abnormal function, and for the investigation of the cause, progressive control, and the prevention of disease. The GCRC provides a controlled setting for the performance of clinical investigation that is not available in the general hospital setting and is the only arena for testing new basic science developments and therapeutic modalities. In order to successfully carry out this objective the GCRC is committed, through the investigators who use the unit, to gathering investigational data from a broad base of patients that includes significant representation of both genders and a broad ethnic base. In this way the unit is committed to gathering investigational outcomes on how these special populations are affected by disease as well as what special conditions exist within these populations that affect their health and well-being. In addition, the GCRC is committed to carrying out its objective through educating and training medical scientists in research skills and techniques which contribute to creating a strong group of clinical researchers. It does this through offering courses in biostatistics and molecular techniques.